Finding My Father's Voice , livre ebook

Ascend Books - Ann Walker Leigh

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117 pages

English

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Leigh Ann Walker's efforts to learn about her deceased father began in earnest five years ago, but really, the journey started in 1971 when Verlon "Rube" Walker died. He was the third base coach for the Chicago Cubs when he died of leukemia at just 42 years old. Leigh Ann was 3. It was a loss impacting the Walker family, their friends, the Chicago Cubs family and eventually people that Verlon (or "Rube") never even met. But his death was profound for Leigh Ann because he was "daddy" and she barely knew him before he died. The loss of his good night hugs, his voice, and his very presence in her young life touched every aspect of her life. Leigh Ann needed a way to face the loss and the resulting uncertainty of the father she didn't know. Her story chronicles her discoveries and reflections. It is a love story, to be sure, but also a detective story and a journey to the baseball family that called Verlon Walker one of their own. When Leigh Ann talked with her mother, uncles, former baseball players -- including Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams -- and former batboys and coaches, she learned about her father from the people who knew him best and honored him with the Rube Walker Blood Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Verlon (or "Rube") was kind, smart, self-effacing and devoted to all the loves of his life - baseball, his wife and his daughter. Leigh Ann put the puzzle together of a man who was everything she'd hoped he would be. And while it didn't make her loss any easier all these years later, her journey toward learning about him answered the questions she needed to ask. This is a story for anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one and could never find a place for the grief to reside or an answer for the "why?" It offers a way to accept what happened and a realization that, as much as those losses hurt and always will, there is always a way forward.

Sujets

Béisbol

Baseball

Informations

Publié par	Ascend Books
Date de parution	01 août 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780998922416
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0474€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Who was Verlon “Rube” Walker?
“He was the wit of the Cubs and often the heart. He was the man who always said the right thing at the tense moment…the man who dashed into a free-for-all at Wrigley Field last summer for one reason: to shield rival (Pittsburgh Pirates) Manager Danny Murtaugh, who recently had suffered a heart attack.”
— Rick Talley, late award-winning columnist for
The Chicago Tribune
“He is as droll as Will Rogers, and almost every day he comes up with a wisecrack that helps ease the tension of a long season.”
—Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub,” late Chicago Cubs shortstop and Baseball Hall of Famer
“He was a true gentleman, a kind man.”
—Fergie Jenkins, Chicago Cubs Pitcher and Baseball Hall of Famer
“He was mild-mannered. All the players respected him. When he spoke, we listened.”
—Billy Williams, Chicago Cubs Outfielder and Baseball Hall of Famer
From the author:
A girl without a father has no ground, no gravity. She floats through life without that invisible force holding her feet to the earth. Cascading softly through the stratosphere, twisting gracefully, somersaulting with wispy glittering elegance like a star. Ethereal. A little lost star. If you’re a father to a daughter let me be clear…. without you, she is lost in the world. You are her gravity. You give her that section of real estate under her feet. A plot of land to call her own, which can never be revoked. In your eyes she sees her value. A girl can live without it – I have. My life hasn’t been sullen and catastrophic. It’s just that life is more peaceful when you have ground under your feet and know your worth.
As I reflect upon my journey to know my father, I feel overwhelming gratitude for all the people who have shared my journey and helped propel me forward. I am healed by their stories and blessed by my father’s legacy as a kind and memorable man. This book is a detailed account of me finding my ground. It is a roadmap of my worth.

Copyright © 2017 by Leigh Ann Walker
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission should be addressed to: Ascend Books, LLC, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, 7221 West 79th Street, Suite 206, Overland Park, KS 66204
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: print book 978-0-9989224-0-9 ISBN: e-book 978-0-9989224-1-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017941642
Publisher: Bob Snodgrass Editor: Teresa Bruns Sosinski Publication Coordinator: Heather Phelan Sales and Marketing: Lenny Cohen Dust Jacket and Book Design: Rob Peters Cover photo by Barney Sterling
All photos courtesy of the author unless otherwise indicated. Every reasonable attempt has been made to determine the ownership of copyright.
The goal of Ascend Books is to publish quality works. With that goal in mind, we are proud to offer this book to our readers. Please notify the publisher of any erroneous credits or omissions, and corrections will be made to subsequent editions/future printings. Please note, however, that the story, experiences, and the words are those of the authors alone.
All names, logos, and symbols that appear in this book are trademarks of their individual organizations and institutions. This notice is for the protection of trademark rights only, and in no way represents the approval or disapproval of the text of this book by those organizations or institutions. This book is not an official publication, and is not affiliated with, endorsed, or licensed by Major League Baseball or The Chicago Cubs.
Printed in The United States of America

www.ascendbooks.com
FINDING
My Father’s
VOICE
A Baseball Love Story
Leigh Ann Walker
with Chuck Carlson
Foreword by Pat Hughes, Chicago Cubs Radio Play-by-Play Broadcaster
Contents Dedication Foreword by Pat Hughes Introduction Chapter 1 Simply, Verlon Walker Chapter 2 Those Who Knew Him Best Chapter 3 What’s In a Name Chapter 4 A Real Love Story Chapter 5 Putting The Pieces Together Chapter 6 An End, and a Beginning Chapter 7 A Chance To Help Others Chapter 8 Finding the Way Back Chapter 9 A Journey That Never Ends Extra Innings Make a Legacy List Editor’s Note Acknowledgements About the Authors Index
Dedication
I dedicate this book to those with grieving hearts everywhere, especially my mother.
Foreword by Pat Hughes
L eigh Ann Walker swept into my life a few years ago, full of enthusiasm, full of doubt and emotion and, mostly, full of questions for which she was hoping to find answers.
She wanted to know about her father, Verlon Walker, who had spent nearly a decade with the Chicago Cubs, first as part of the eclectic but ultimately doomed College of Coaches in 1961 and then as a valuable right-hand man for that force-of-nature manager Leo Durocher.
Verlon Walker, known to everyone as “Rube,” had seen everything in baseball, as a player/manager in the low minors and then ultimately as the Cubs’ bullpen coach. He had seen the good and the bad with the Cubs, as most Cubs’ fans have as well.
He was in the dugout in 1969 when that black cat ran across Ron Santo’s feet and the division-leading Cubs eventually collapsed and lost out to the New York Mets. He was there to see Cubs’ immortals like Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams and Ernie Banks become the toast of the town. But he was also there for all of those young players over the years, those unknown players who needed some advice, some encouragement and someone to tell them they had that chance to prove they belonged.
Those were the players Rube probably felt closest to because he had been one of them. And from what Leigh Ann told me about her dad, that’s the way he wanted it.
Whether a Hall of Famer or a regular guy, everyone said the same thing about Rube Walker: He was one of the truly good people in the game. Blessed with insight, a dry southern wit and a keen understanding of people, Rube made everyone feel like they’d known him forever. It was a rare and wonderful gift.
But Rube was struck down with leukemia in 1971, during spring training prior to the season when he was to claim the job he’d always wanted: pitching coach for the Cubs. Rube died in March of that year at the age of 42, leaving behind his wife Ann and his three-year-old little girl, Leigh Ann.
And now Leigh Ann, grown and with children of her own, had found me and was hoping I could help her recapture the voice of her father, the voice she had never known from a man she barely knew.
As the Cubs’ play by play announcer for WGN since 1996, I had a few connections within the organization and did my small part to help move her investigation along. I was rooting for her to find what she was looking for.
And her story resonated around baseball. Her search has been featured in stories on MLB.com , in newspapers and on TV. Her single-mindedness in finding out about her father is worthy of any detective story and I was pleased I could be a small part of it.
I met her in person for the first time in the summer of 2015 when she came to Chicago to watch the Cubs and to visit the Rube Walker Blood Center (named for her father) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. And I could tell how important this journey was for her.
Leigh Ann has now turned that quest into a book about the long, involved, sometimes painful, journey to discover just who her father was.
She has delved deep inside her to talk about the pain and anguish and longing that has been such a part of her life since her father died. She has found people who remembered him well and have told the stories that have produced an image of the man. She also found a recording of him giving a brief talk in his native Lenoir, North Carolina, putting a voice to the man.
In truth, she has not written this book for Chicago Cubs fans or even baseball fans, though they’re more than welcome to join in on the journey. She wrote this for a larger audience of people who have suffered loss in their lives and are still looking for ways to cope with it. It’s not an easy subject to write about but one that needed to be done.
In October 2016, when the Cubs ended their 108-year drought and won the World Series, an entire city and, yes, much of the country celebrated, too. And joining in was Leigh Ann Walker, who followed the Cubs from her North Carolina home for every game during that magical season. For her, those Cubs were a chance for her to once again reconnect with her father.
And it’s hard to imagine he wasn’t watching every inning himself. And smiling.
Introduction
A few days ago, I dreamed of him.
We were sitting in a blue pickup truck drinking coffee. He was wearing a light brown hunting jacket with a dark brown corduroy collar. One hand on the wheel the other holding a Styrofoam cup. Steam rising. He was laughing. It felt real. It was warm like flesh and breath.
I woke up.
I closed my eyes tightly to put myself back in that truck, but it was gone. He was gone. The way dreams just fade away once you realize they are dreams.
Laying there replaying the dream in my mind, it occurred to me that I had put flesh and breath there. I’ve heard that when people master a new language, they begin to dream in that language. That’s what I had done. I had gone on a grand adventure to find out everything I could about my father and three years later, I had dreamed of him. Gathering memories, looking deep into pictures, hearing his voice, listening to stories were all a form of mastery. I had essentially brought him to me. He felt real and now I missed him.
My dad’s name was Verlon Lee Walker but everyone called him Rube. He was a coach for the Chicago Cubs from 1961 to 1972. Actually, my father’s nickname was “Little Rube” because his big brother was “Rube.”
Al “Rube” Walker was three years older than my dad and more